A still from the film, Free Pussy Riot, showing Maria Alekhina and her son Philip

In celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Russian Constitution, President Vladimir Putin helped sponsor another primarily decorative gesture: a bill that would offer amnesty to several political prisoners, including the members of Pussy Riot and the Greenpeace activists captured protesting Russia’s arctic drilling.

According to the announcement put up on the Kremlin’s website, the bill would allow certain categories of prisoner – including pregnant women, women with small children, juvenile offenders and the elderly – who have received sentences for 5 years or less for non-violent crimes, to apply for amnesty.

While this is certainly an exciting development, one must remember the timing on these things. The Kremlin hopes that the bill will be passed by the end of the year, but it will only go into effect six months after the date it’s signed. The remaining members of Pussy Riot are due for release in March.

That said, while it’s too early for the “Pussy Riot is Freed!” headlines exploding over this past hour, we can still celebrate what this window may mean for other political activists, including those whose protests against Putin don’t come with their own PR campaign.